There are at least two different kinds of production S&W 76 magazines, which I detail with photos below. This post deals with prodcution S&W 76 magazines, and NOT tool room magazines which are different in design.
There has been some opinion stated here and elsewhere that S&W 76 magazines with the "long tab" floorplate with "9mm Ctg" stamped toward the front of the mage are not genuine and are somehow fakes. I disagree.
I have 13 S&W 76 magazines that date back to 1970-71 and 11 of the 13 have a long tab floorplate which is stamped "9mm Ctg" toward the front of the floorplate.
The other two S&W 76 magazines have floorplates stamped with "9mm Ctg" toward the back wall of the mag.
The followers in ALL 13 of the S&W mags identical, made of stamped steel.
There are welds up the front and the back of ALL 13 of the mag bodies.
The stiffening groove in the sides of all 13 of the mag bodies is in an "offset-V" rather than a radiused curve found in MK 760 mags, identical to the S&W 76 mag in Sub Gun Fan's photos in his S&W 76 vs MK760 mag sticky.
The cartridge witness holes are also identical on ALL 13 mags, as are the round count numbers, right down to the vertically offset "6" in the "36" stamping.
The location and appearance of the stitch welds that attach the front and rear pads and the floorplate retainer stirups are again identical on all 13 mags.
Finally, the floorplate keeper buttons are flat in profile on ALL 13 mags.
Photos of my mags:
"Short tab" mags on left:
Note the "6" in "36" is raised a bit on all of the mag bodies, including the two "short tab" mags at left:
Pads and pad welds are the same . . .
. . . as are the front pads:
Same for the stiffening ribs:
Closeup of the floorplates:
Closeup of followers:
The reason that I can say with certainty that ALL 13 of the S&W 76 magazines in my posession are genuine is due to where and when I got them. All 13 that I own came from a dealer/gunsmith in my hometown who bought them in late 1970 or early 1971 as part of an order of three S&W 76 subguns and 30-some magazines, one for himself and two for eventual sale. For years I used to "hang out" at this dealer/gunsmith's shop in his basement, and was his extra pair of hands, gunshow table-sitter, and shop cleaning person, getting paid in boxes of 22LR ammo. He bought the three S&W 76s and the mags when I was a junior in HS. I got to fire his 76 a few times, the last being shortly before I left for Parris Island in August of 1972.
The dealer passed away in 1978, and I attended the estate sale and among other things purchased the 13 S&W 76 mags in a "mixed lot" carton of M14, M1911, and M1 Carbine magazines and other items. Nobody bid on the box, and the opening bid was $20 and I bid that and won. I was interested in the M1 Carbine and M1911 magazines but held onto the M14 and S&W 76 mags "just in case."
Since the gunsmith/dealer bought the 13 mags from S&W, and the mag bodies are IDENTICAL with only the floorplates being different, I am 100% confident that regardless of the difference in floorplates, all 13 mags are the "real deal."
Last year I purchased 10 more S&W 76 mags with the long tab floorplate, and they are identical to the "long tab" mags that I got from the deceased dealer's estate sale.
If the "long tab" S&W 76 mags are fakes, somebody went to A LOT of trouble back in the early 70s to exactly counterfeit everything but the floorplates. As an MG dealer told me a few years ago, it's his opinion that S&W likely made the floorplate tab longer on subsequent mag orders so that the longer tab could be used as a disassembly tool (screwdriver) in removing the handgrip screw.
William of Occam stated in so many words that "the simplest explanation is most often the correct one," (Occam's Razor). Given the provenance of my 13 S&W 76 magazines that were all purchased by the same dealer in the early 70s, and that S&W likely changed the floorplate design at some point, and that all 13 of my S&W 76 mags run without fault 100% of the time, I can only conclude that they are genuine.
Noah
There has been some opinion stated here and elsewhere that S&W 76 magazines with the "long tab" floorplate with "9mm Ctg" stamped toward the front of the mage are not genuine and are somehow fakes. I disagree.
I have 13 S&W 76 magazines that date back to 1970-71 and 11 of the 13 have a long tab floorplate which is stamped "9mm Ctg" toward the front of the floorplate.
The other two S&W 76 magazines have floorplates stamped with "9mm Ctg" toward the back wall of the mag.
The followers in ALL 13 of the S&W mags identical, made of stamped steel.
There are welds up the front and the back of ALL 13 of the mag bodies.
The stiffening groove in the sides of all 13 of the mag bodies is in an "offset-V" rather than a radiused curve found in MK 760 mags, identical to the S&W 76 mag in Sub Gun Fan's photos in his S&W 76 vs MK760 mag sticky.
The cartridge witness holes are also identical on ALL 13 mags, as are the round count numbers, right down to the vertically offset "6" in the "36" stamping.
The location and appearance of the stitch welds that attach the front and rear pads and the floorplate retainer stirups are again identical on all 13 mags.
Finally, the floorplate keeper buttons are flat in profile on ALL 13 mags.
Photos of my mags:
"Short tab" mags on left:
Note the "6" in "36" is raised a bit on all of the mag bodies, including the two "short tab" mags at left:
Pads and pad welds are the same . . .
. . . as are the front pads:
Same for the stiffening ribs:
Closeup of the floorplates:
Closeup of followers:
The reason that I can say with certainty that ALL 13 of the S&W 76 magazines in my posession are genuine is due to where and when I got them. All 13 that I own came from a dealer/gunsmith in my hometown who bought them in late 1970 or early 1971 as part of an order of three S&W 76 subguns and 30-some magazines, one for himself and two for eventual sale. For years I used to "hang out" at this dealer/gunsmith's shop in his basement, and was his extra pair of hands, gunshow table-sitter, and shop cleaning person, getting paid in boxes of 22LR ammo. He bought the three S&W 76s and the mags when I was a junior in HS. I got to fire his 76 a few times, the last being shortly before I left for Parris Island in August of 1972.
The dealer passed away in 1978, and I attended the estate sale and among other things purchased the 13 S&W 76 mags in a "mixed lot" carton of M14, M1911, and M1 Carbine magazines and other items. Nobody bid on the box, and the opening bid was $20 and I bid that and won. I was interested in the M1 Carbine and M1911 magazines but held onto the M14 and S&W 76 mags "just in case."
Since the gunsmith/dealer bought the 13 mags from S&W, and the mag bodies are IDENTICAL with only the floorplates being different, I am 100% confident that regardless of the difference in floorplates, all 13 mags are the "real deal."
Last year I purchased 10 more S&W 76 mags with the long tab floorplate, and they are identical to the "long tab" mags that I got from the deceased dealer's estate sale.
If the "long tab" S&W 76 mags are fakes, somebody went to A LOT of trouble back in the early 70s to exactly counterfeit everything but the floorplates. As an MG dealer told me a few years ago, it's his opinion that S&W likely made the floorplate tab longer on subsequent mag orders so that the longer tab could be used as a disassembly tool (screwdriver) in removing the handgrip screw.
William of Occam stated in so many words that "the simplest explanation is most often the correct one," (Occam's Razor). Given the provenance of my 13 S&W 76 magazines that were all purchased by the same dealer in the early 70s, and that S&W likely changed the floorplate design at some point, and that all 13 of my S&W 76 mags run without fault 100% of the time, I can only conclude that they are genuine.
Noah
